Shooting bends the cleaning rod?

[BrianTSmith99]

Hey!

I took my New England Westinghouse to the range and fired 20 shots. When I got it home, the cleaning rod did not want to come out. After I got it apart I saw there was a bend in the threads just ahead of where it screws into the block. I remembered back and it was that way when I bought it. I had gently straightened it out.

OK... to correct it is the old joke, "Dr... it hurts when I bend my elbow this way..." and I'll pull the cleaning rod before I shoot it, but I like to know the "why's" of things. The bands are on it, supposedly supporting the rod, but it came with no hand guard. Seems odd that shooting would bend the thing. I've not seen this in any of my other Mosins.

Thanks!
Brian

[Junk Yard Dog]

The rod is connected only to the stock and contact with the bands is not enough to bend, or otherwise harm it. I can't come up with anything that the rifle itself could be doing to bend the rod that would not also be part of a major failure. It could be that the rod simply has some metal memory and returned itself to the shape of the bend it's probably had for 60 years.

[BrianTSmith99]

NEW Mosin is a "go with the flow" type, eh? Yeah, it shots good (it shoots better than I can shoot it). I've eyeballed it and as best as I can see with my newbie eye, all seems well. I do not shoot the thing much but I will remember to pull the rod going forward. It is so cool that it still shoots at nearly 100 years old.

[Junk Yard Dog]

You can buy a brand new car, stick it in a garage for five years and everything will go to crap, rusty brakes, bad gas, mouse eaten wires, cracked tires. You can take a brand new rifle, pack it in grease, and stash it away for 300 years in some safe, dry spot, come back, clean it off and it will fire as good as the day it was made. A well cared for milsurp that hasn't been used enough to shoot out the rifling will shoot today as well as it did at the end of it's last war.

[Sgt. Rob]

Without actually seeing this in person, I am stumped as to why it would be happening?

Semper Fi, Rob

[Junk Yard Dog]

The rods have a bit of spring to them, this sort of metal is very hard to remove a bend from without heat , and that would ruin it. The bend returns, probably always will, this sort of thing is common with old cleaning rods.

[Sgt. Rob]

The rods have a bit of spring to them, this sort of metal is very hard to remove a bend from without heat , and that would ruin it. The bend returns, probably always will, this sort of thing is common with old cleaning rods.

Do you think its the heat or the stress from firing that is doing it?

Semper Fi, Rob

[Junk Yard Dog]

Vibration popping it back into it's now accustomed form, now heat, not near hot enough to do that unless he is shooting 50 round continuous strings.

[BrianTSmith99]

Not so much the "50 continuous rounds" for the old girl I shot 10 in the NEW Mosin, then 20 in the SKS, then 10 more in the NEW. Did not get near hot enough to heat the rod.

Brian

[Junk Yard Dog]

Yea, the metal held the memory of the bend and it just vibrated back into it's form.

[zeebill]

Cleaning rod is dang near the same as what we called spring steel many years ago and that for sure has a memory. So if you shock it the thing goes back to its memory position. Like the saying motor oil is motor oil, steel is not always steel that we recognize but has individual traits and that is how specialty steels came about. Bill

[Jolly Green Chopper]

Temper,Temper....

[avenger]

Lawnmower blades are spring steel i believe... ive heard of people using them for fixing rusted out parts of car frames..

[Junk Yard Dog]

That was done to my old plow truck, but not by me, the former owner was a cheap bastard. Still, they held for 14 years after he did it, and with me slamming snow banks for 13 of them.